Many objects have intrinsic value or have value because they provide access to other valuable objects. For instance, jewelry and coins have inherent and intrinsic value while keys, such as keys to vehicles, have value because they provide access to other valuable objects, namely automobiles and trucks. Further, access to and control of some items, such as narcotics for example, needs to be monitored, tracked, and controlled to assure against unauthorized access or to assure that proper and appropriate access is catalogued. There is a serious need to be able to track, catalogue access to, and control such objects in a way that is reliable, simple to implement, and virtually tamper proof.
In the past, a variety of systems have been implemented to track and control objects. In the case of keys in an automobile dealership, for example, peg boards have been used to keep track of the keys as salespersons, maintenance personnel, and others remove keys for access to vehicles. Generally, sign-out sheets have been used to log the check-in and check-out of such keys. Obviously, such a manual system of tracking has numerous shortcomings due in large part to the very real potential of human error and forgetfulness in carrying out the sign-in and sign-out procedures. More recently, automated computer controlled key tracking systems have been implemented for tracking, for example, vehicle keys at car lots and keys to the apartments of apartment complexes. One such system particularly applicable to the present invention is the key tracking system disclosed and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,628 and my pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/073,757, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated fully by reference. In this system, referred to herein as the "Key Track" system, keys to a vehicle are attached with a rivet or the like to a thin plastic key tag having a depending tongue. The tongue carries a small button-shaped electronic touch memory device, which stores a ID code. The tongues of the key tags are configured to be insertable in an array of slots formed in a panel within a storage drawer. A printed circuit back plane is disposed beneath the array of slots and is provided with a plurality of pairs of metal contacts, each pair of contacts being aligned with a corresponding one of the slots. When the tongue of a key tag is inserted in a selected one of the slots, its touch memory device is engaged by the corresponding pair of contacts.
A computer based controller is electronically coupled through a data matrix to the contacts on the back plane and periodically polls each pair of contacts, preferably several times per second, to determine the presence or absence of a touch memory device and thus which slots contain key tags and which do not. When a slot contains a key tag, the touch memory device of the tag is read to determine its ID code, from which the identity of the particular key on the tag can be determined through a table lookup. In this way, the absence or presence and location of the key tags and their associated keys can be noted by the controller each time the array of contacts are polled. If a tag present in a slot on a prior polling is absent on a subsequent polling, then the controller notes that that the tag and its key has been removed from the storage drawer. Conversely, if a key tag is detected in a previously empty slot, the controller notes that the tag and its key have been replaced in the storage drawer. The removal and replacement of keys is therefore continuously monitored.
An access feature requires an authorized user such a salesperson to enter an ID code to unlock and access the storage drawer. When the history of removal and replacement of key tags and their keys is combined with other information, such as the time at which tags are removed and replaced and the identities of the persons who accessed the drawer and times of access, access to the keys in the drawer can be controlled and a detailed tracking log can be created. This system greatly decreases instances of lost keys, reduces the time required to find checked-out keys, and generally provides automatic tracking and control of the keys, and thus, to a large extent, controls and tracks the vehicles to which they provide access.
While the Key Track system described above has proven extremely valuable in the tracking and control of keys, it nevertheless has been limited somewhat in the situations to which it is readily applicable. For example, the tags used with the system are made of thin relatively flat plastic material that generally provides for the attachment of a single or only a few keys to the tag. It has been difficult to attach a large collection of keys such as keys on a key ring and even more difficult to attach larger special function keys such as keys that incorporate electronic transmitters for locking and unlocking a car remotely. In these situations, it has been experienced that keys can fall or hang into the slots of the Key Track drawer and short out one or more of the contacts on the backplane, resulting in system errors or failure. While simply providing larger tags is helpful, it has not proven to be a complete solution. Furthermore, the system has generally been poorly applicable to the tracking of loose items such as, for example, jewelry, narcotics, and the like because such items cannot easily be attached to a tag. The present invention is intended to enhance and expand the basic Key Track system for application to these and other situations.
Another relative shortcoming of present electronic key tracking systems such as the Key Track system, and object tracking systems in general, has been limitations resulting from the fact that the keys are only detectable upon check-in and check-out at a central storage location. This has meant that tracking of keys has generally been limited to keeping a log of when the keys are physically removed and replaced in a central storage receptacle. The disposition of keys in the interim has not been trackable. Nevertheless, it is clearly useful to track the movement and use of keys and other objects in the interim between the times when they are checked out and checked back in at the central storage location. For example, in the case of tracking use of keys to apartments by maintenance personnel, it is desirable to know not only that a group of keys were checked out and checked back in at particular times, but also when the keys were used in the interim to access apartments. such information can be useful, for example, when claims of theft or vandalism are levied against security personnel. It can also be useful in general security dispatching to insure that security guards check in at all required stations while making security rounds and to log the activities of such guards during their rounds. In the tracking of narcotics at a hospital, it is desirable to know when and by whom particular narcotics are checked out and checked back in and also the time at which the narcotics are accessed in the interim between check-out and check-in times. In this way, confirmation that patients receive the proper prescriptions at the proper times can easily be made by referring to the resulting log of check-out, access, and check in times. The basic Key Track system has not been readily applicable to such situations.
Thus, even though the Key Track system has proven very useful, there exists a continuing need to enhance the system by providing for the tracking of larger and bulkier keys and key collections, by providing for the tracking and control of the use of keys and other articles in the interim between check out and check in, and, in a more general sense, to provide for the tracking and control of larger or loose items such as jewelry and narcotics. It is to the provision of such enhancements and improvements that the present invention is primarily directed.